Same-sex marriages halted

This just in: Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Frank Bearden has ordered the county to the issuance of same-sex marriage licenses. According to this report in the Statesman-Journal:

Bearden said that a Supreme Court ruling is needed to determine whether gay marriage should be allowed in the state. He also said “public debate and legislative action may be required to carry out the court’s mandate.”

Bearden also said that he believes the Oregon Constitution could "allow either a civil union or (marriage) privileges to same-sex couples," but that the high court must be involved in resolving the issue.

Kelly Clark, lawyer for the Defense of Marriage Coalition, says as much in this KGW report:

"What has been the principal concern of my folks is stop this process until it gets sorted out by the appellate court and the (Oregon) Legislature."

Who said process wouldn't come back to bite us?

Now it looks like a showdown is at hand before the Oregon Supreme Court. But it's not certain at this point how soon that will, or can, happen. Anyone want to place odds on whether the matter will be resolved before or after the general election in November?

Update [1:15 PM]: KGW has since updated the link above. Turns out that Judge Bearden's decision gives the legislature 90 days to come up with a solution, once it convenes next, or he will lift his order banning the licenses. And he ordered that the licenses of marriages [which have were in a state of legal limbo] be immediately recorded:

Bearden's decision also included an order that the state of Oregon register about 3,000 marriage licenses from same-sex couples. The ruling was hailed by gay rights supporters, who said those would be the country's first legally recognized gay marriages.

Dave Fidanque, the ACLU executive director in Oregon, said the ruling was important because it recognized the gay marriages that have already taken place.

"In no other same-sex marriages that have taken place has there been a court order saying the state must recognize them,” Fidanque said. “That's what's truly historic about this opinion."

There's something Solomonesque about Judge Bearden's ruling: At first blush, there appears to be something for everyone to crow about. Indeed, both sides are claiming victory.

Seems to WWP that the biggest winner of the day might be the governor, who advocated this approach from the beginning.

Update II [1:20 PM]: Here is Judge Bearden's decision.

Comments

[The One True b!X]

In my opinion, Bearden abdicated his responsibility to tackle some of the central issues in the case. Right now, I'm less concerned about how he would have decided those issues than with the fact that he bent over backwards to avoid having to strain himself to think about them.

[tammy]

I don't care how or when it happened. I just praise God it's stopped!

[Keith]

It's unfortunate that his ruling did nothing to clarify the issues, but raising civil unions as a solution, when they have been demonstrated to be clearly problematic, is particularly distressing.